Burgers Rout Dash in Game 3

For the 2nd straight night, the Hub City Spartanburgers offense came on strong in the first inning. Starter J’Briell Easley (0-0, 3.60 ERA) set the tone with 2 strikeouts and stranded a 2 out single from Caleb Bonemer. After that, Arturo Disla extended his on-base streak and started a rally with a 1 out walk.

Gleider Figuereo also drew a free pass on 4 pitches, setting the stage for back to back RBI doubles from Paxton Kling and Yeison Morrobel. Quincy Scott added a base knock afterwards to put runners on the corners, setting up a Ben Hartl sacrifice fly to center to plate Morrobel and give Hub City a 4-0 lead through an inning.

After Easley retired the side in order in the top of the 2nd, the Burgers added on by capitalizing on a leadoff single and stolen base from Luke Hanson. Disla moved him to third with a grounder to 2nd before Winston-Salem starter Drew McDaniel balked to send Hanson home. Figuereo reached on a knock with 2 away but Kling struck out to end the inning with the Spartanburgers lead at 5-0.

The Dash got on the board in the third when catcher Grant Magill led off with a double that was lined off the top of the fence in straightaway center. He advanced on a fly ball to center and scored on a sacrifice fly — also to center, from Ely Brown. That ended the night for Easley after 2 and two thirds, having struck out three with no walks and 2 hits. He gave way to Anthony Hoopii-Tuionetoa, who threw 4 pitches to left fielder Boston Smith before he flied to right to retire the side.

Hub City landed another huge punch in the home half of the frame when after a leadoff 2-bagger from Morrobel and a throwing error on the third baseman that allowed Quincy Scott II to reach, Ben Hartl launched a ballistic missile to the berm in left for a 3-run shot, upping the ante to 8-1.

Rafe Perich kept the line moving with a single and Hanson mmmbopped to 1st on a walk. Chandler Pollard was issued a free pass to put Burgers on the grill for Arturo Disla, who grounded into a run-scoring 6-4-3 double play on the first pitch he saw. Figuereo grounded out to short to end the inning, but the Spartanburgers took a commanding 9-1 lead into the 4th.

Hoopii-Tuionetoa worked an inning and a third in total, hanging a goose egg across his whole line. Joe Adametz came along and kept the Dash at bay, which the bats rewarded in the bottom of the 5th. Hanson drew his 2nd walk of the day with 1 away. With 2 down, Disla wore one off his foot. Yeison Morrobel made the Dash pay for it by lifting a high fly ball into shallow left that the LF lost in the lights for a bloop 2 run double, extending the lead to 11-1.

The Burgers put together one more big inning in the bottom of the 8th, hanging a 5 spot on 6 hits, leaving 2 aboard as they extended the lead to 16-1. Winston-Salem would rally for a run in the 9th after loading the bases with 1 out, scoring on a grounder to short from first baseman Anthony Depino that plated Brown. But, Adametz finished it off by striking out Designated Hitter George Wolkow looking, sealing the 16-2 win.

Adametz earned the win, going 5 innings and retiring 7 on strikes while issuing 3 walks, and 2 hits with just 1 earned run.

With the win, the Burgers (8-9) snap a 2-game skid and put themselves in a position where they can still win the series this weekend. They will look to take another step towards making that a reality tomorrow night at 7:05 as Dalton Pence (0-1, 2.35 ERA) faces a Winston-Salem starter to be named later.